Brought to you by Seahorse magazine, Scuttlebutt Europe is a digest of sailing news and opinions, regatta results, new boat and gear information and letters from sailors -- with a European emphasis. Contributions welcome, send to

Lendy Cowes Week - Day 5 Round up Report A change in the weather today gave a cooler and windier day, with gusts nearing 25 knots in the early afternoon. Thousands of sailors came ashore sporting big grins after an energetic day that saw many thrills and spills on the downwind legs. Today was Youth Day at Lendy Cowes week, with the spotlight shining on the numerous young sailors, teams and skippers at the event.

The first start was for the bigger yachts racing on the first day of the Triple Crown series for three of the sailing world's most prestigious trophies. They started on the inshore Royal Yacht Squadron line, heading towards the east under spinnaker. A number of boats, including Tony Langley's TP52 Gladiator, and James Neville's HH42 Ino XXX, held back from the line, hoisting spinnakers 30 seconds before the start. Despite accelerating quickly they were late at the gun, allowing Igor Yakunin's Ker 46 Lady Mariposa to get away ahead, even though his team hoisted the spinnaker later.

Yakunin had been at the top of the leaderboard for the Musto Young Skipper's Trophy after the first four days of the regatta this year. However, his team's fifth place today saw him slip to second place.

Gladiator subsequently powered away to take line honours in the 24 mile race and won on corrected time, 75 seconds ahead of Peter Morton's Fast40+ Girls on Film. Lady Mariposa was second on the water, but slipped to fifth after time correction, behind Michael Bartholomew's GP42 Tokoloshe ll and another Fast40+, Stewart Whitehead's Rebellion.

In IRC Class 3 the Dutch Max Fun 35 Team Heiner lll, skippered by Arianne van de Loosdrecht, had their best race of the regatta so far. They finished second on the water, but close enough to Andrew McIrvine's First 40 La Reponse to gain victory by 22 seconds on corrected time. It was a performance that earned Team Heiner lll both the Landrover Under 25 Trophy and the Musto Young Skippers Trophy.

The sailing inspired programmes run by Lendy Cowes Week's official Charity, the 1851 Trust, have reached over 90,000 young people in the last year. They bring the innovation and excitement of the America's Cup to young people in a way that challenges them to challenge themselves.

The organisation's next aim, through the forthcoming America's Cup cycle, is to inspire more young people about the opportunities open to them through sport and technology, leading them to think differently about their futures. Anyone wanting to give more young people to the opportunity to grow through sailing can donate £10 by texting INSPIRE to 70660. -- Rupert Holmes

The Trust is also continuing to run a programme of workshops and treasure hunts from its stand on the Parade throughout Lendy Cowes Week. www.1851trust.org.uk

Brits rack up more wins as Aarhus heats up A brace of race wins for windsurfer Kieran Holmes-Martin and Nacra 17 pair Ben Saxton and Nikki Boniface rocketed them up the leaderboard as the Sailing World Championships action continued on Tuesday.

As the mercury rose to 30 degrees in Aarhus, Denmark, and the winds remained light, Holmes-Martin, 23, was rampant in the men's RS:X fleet.

Relishing the pumping conditions, Holmes-Martin (above) started with a solid sixth before breezing the next two to end the class's third day of racing in fifth overall, just eight points off the lead.

Buoyed by her first race win on Monday, Beijing 2008 bronze medallist Bryony Shaw added another win and a second to her tally to go into the women's RS:X gold fleet racing in seventh, nine points from first.

In the Laser Standard fleet, Britain's Jack Wetherell had a good result snatched from him when the wind disappeared on the final run an hour into the opening race.

Wetherell had sailed a blinder up to that point to round the top mark in fifth, but with the race turning into a lottery due to the lack of breeze the race committee decided to abandon it.

When the race was finally re-run it was British sailors Elliot Hanson and Lorenzo Chiavarini who came to the fore, finishing sixth and seventh respectively.

To round off Wetherell's frustration, he was was disqualified from the race for starting prematurely.

In the Finn class Ed Wright retains pole position going into the final day of fleet racing thanks to a second in race eight, while Ben Cornish slipped to 14th.

Only one race was held in the Laser Radial, with Georgina Povall finishing 21st, Ali Young coming home 28th and fellow Brit Hannah Snellgrove placing 51st.

The men's 470 fleet will race tomorrow - a planned lay day - to complete their gold fleet series with Luke Patience and Chris Grube sitting in 10th overall.

The Aarhus 2018 race committee decided that the women's 470 fleet will not race tomorrow - and so Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre will go into the class's double points-scoring medal race in third, ten points off the lead, with Amy Seabright and Anna Carpenter will start the race in eighth.

In the men's kiteboarding, Guy Bridge surged to the top of the leaderboard having won 10 of his 12 races.

St. Maarten Heineken Regatta The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta is four amazing days of world-class racing in idyllic conditions appealing to a broad range of tastes. The Event, set in the crystal-clear waters of the Caribbean and powered by the cooling northeast trade winds is powered by an experienced, innovative and friendly race team. Our professional Race Committee provides custom-tailored racing for the thousands of sailors originating from the 32+ countries that come to race: from Olympic medalists and World Champions sailing Maxis and Performance Multihulls to holiday-makers on chartered Bareboats.

For the 2019 edition, there will be four days of Serious Racing, counting towards the overall result. Participants will be offered a mixture of races with a combination of windward-leeward and coastal races, blended together into an irresistible cocktail of racing chosen to suit each class. The all-out racing monohulls will savor the prospect of eight races over four days with windward-leeward races on two days and two longer coastal races testing both boat handling and tactics. It's easy to understand why the regatta attracts a large competitive class of 40ft and 50ft cruiser-racers.

With Heineken as a long-standing sponsor, the event's shore side parties are exceptional! Sample the local cuisine, offered by several famous, local restaurants at the Regatta Village before you make your way to the center stage and take in the sweet tunes of international & Caribbean artists. The St Maarten Heineken Regatta parties are legendary and make for everlasting memories on the "Friendly Island"!

Star Class European Championship 71 international teams from 15 Nations are ready in Flensburg, Germany, to attend the 2018 Star Class European Championship, hosted by Flensburger Segel-Club from tomorrow to Sunday August the 12th, with a total number of 7 races.

Racing starts Thursday August the 9th, at 12.00 local time (GMT+1).

Two races per day and only one on the last day of racing, Sunday, when the 2018 European Champions will be crowned. Last year's champions, Torben Grael and Arthur 'Tutu' Lopes (BRA), won't be on the start line of this Championship, but Torben's brother, former ISCYRA President and Star World Champion, Lars Grael will be, with his loyal crew Samuel Gonçalves (BRA).

Not far from here, in Troense, Denmark, just a little more than a year ago, Lars and Samuel were fighting until the last race to win their second Star World Championship. They finished second while the winners were Eivind Melleby (NOR) with Joshua Revkin (USA). Eivind is in Flensburg trying to win the Continental title once more after winning it in 2016. he is not sailing with Josh but with Brazilian crew Guilherme de Almeida, who won Bronze at the European Championship in 2015 in Gaeta with Torben Grael.

On the start line we'll also find Russian Georgy Shayduko, who won Silver Olympic Medal in Atlanta in 1996 in the Soling Class, right behind German sailing superstar Jochen Shuemann, he's moved to the Star since then and was selected to represent his country in Athens and Bejing, but couldn't eventually attend the Games. There is Jack Jennings here from the United States, with crew Frithjof Kleen from Berlin, Frithjof won the title with Eivind Melleby in 2016 in Warnemunde, Germany - not so far from here - and in 2013 in Båstad, Sweden, with Diego Negri (ITA). Diego and his crew Sergio Lambertenghi (ITA) are missing from this event, they were second last year in Diego's home water Sanremo. The other American skipper, Augie Diaz with Brazilian crew Bruno Prada, won Bronze medal then and they're here trying to move on the highest step of the podium - after winning Silver medal fro two years in a row in 2016 and 2015.

UBS 20th Jersey Regatta Scheduled for 14th to 16th September and sponsored for the sixth year running by UBS AG Jersey, this year sees the 20th edition of the combined clubs' Jersey Regatta, the Island's 'flagship' sailing event.

The Regatta schedule provides racing for sportsboat, IRC and NHC cruiser/racer, Quarter Ton, dayboat, dinghy, sport catamaran and windsurfer classes, a veritable 'catch-all for both local and visiting sailors alike. In this special year, the fifth Spinlock IRC Channel Islands Regional Championships for IRC-rated Classes 1 & 2 cruiser/racers will be a major feature of the programme.

The event opens on the Thursday evening with a welcoming reception followed by a distance race for the sportsboat and cruiser/racer classes on Friday morning. Saturday and Sunday sees these classes racing in and off St Aubin's Bay over round-the-cans and Olympic-type courses. The 'small boat' classes race over Olympic-type courses entirely within this beautiful Bay.

As ever, Jersey Marinas will be providing complimentary berthing for competitors during the lead-up to the Regatta whilst Condor Ferries is offering discounted fares for those competitors wishing to ship their boats to the Island to join in the event.

The Regatta is an open event to which visiting boats are assured of a very warm welcome.

The Notice of Race is available on the website, http://www.jerseyregatta.com. Enticingly low entry fees are made even more attractive with an ‘early bird’ fee for those entering no later than 14th August. The definitive closing date is 7th September.

For further information, e-mail .

How Much Plastic is in the Ocean? 'How much plastic is in the ocean', you ask? A study published in 2017 estimated between 1.15 to 2.41 million tonnes of plastic enters the oceans via rivers annually, with peak months being between May and October. The top 20 contributing rivers, which according to the report are mostly found in Asia, contribute around 67% of all plastics flowing into the ocean from rivers around the world.

The demand for plastic has increased dramatically over the last 70 years. According to Plastic Ocean, 300 million tons of plastic is produced globally every year. Half of that plastic is used for disposable items that will only be used once. As a result, more than 8 million tons of discarded plastic ends up in our oceans every single year. Once it is there it doesn't readily go away. The Worldwatch Institute estimates that the average American or European person typically uses 100 kilograms of plastic every year, most of which consists of packaging, and while it is estimated that Asians currently only use an average of 20 kilograms per person, this is expected to rise due to economic growth in the region.

Because it is so tough and durable, plastic can be reused or it can be recycled. Popular musician and environmental advocate, Pharrell Williams, is the co-owner of G-Star RAW, a sustainable clothing brand that recently launched the 'RAW for the Oceans' collection that recycles single use plastic containers collected from beaches all over the world into stylish apparel. The 'RAW for the Oceans' fashion line has collaborated with Bionic Yarn, another company that Williams is both a partner and Creative Director of, which uses recycled ocean plastics to make sustainable clothing yarn. This creative approach provides a sustainable resource - there is plenty of plastic in the sea - while at the same time tackles the humungous problem of ocean plastics by putting this practically unlimited resource to good use.

Philanthropist, environmental advocate, and entrepreneur, Richard Branson, has proposed that we implement a deposit refund system for plastic bottles. Offering an incentive for users to return plastic bottles for recycling makes absolute sense, especially these are one of the most prolific items found on beaches around the world.

While reducing or eliminating plastic packaging may help to stem the flow of plastics at the source, we still need to take steps to prevent plastic that is already in the environment from flowing into the ocean, and to clean up the vast amount of plastic littering beaches around the world, as well as the plastic currently swirling around ocean gyres.

The teak laid deck is constructed from hand laid up GRP. It has a sandwich type construction using foam core stiffening, with high density foam in high stress areas.

It includes an anodised aluminium Selden triple spreader mast and boom with electric in-mast reefing and solid sprung boom vang. There is also a Vectron furling mainsail, short vertical battens and Vectron self-tacking furling jib.

It also features a self-tacking furling jib, swing keel system, protected propeller and in-mast furling.

Like the Discovery 54, the Southerly 480 has heavy duty GRP moulding and hand laid up GRP, alongside the same mast and sail specifications. It has a large aft cockpit with twin helms and a Yanmar 80hp 4-cylinder diesel engine.

RS Sailing is proud to announce the nomination of the RS21 for the European Yacht of the Year Award (EYOTY) 2019. The EYOTY award is the most important, influential and most widely communicated boatbuilding prize worldwide. Initiated by German sail magazine YACHT it was first presented at boot Dusseldorf in 2004. Today 12 magazines from all over Europe make up the jury, each of them the leading voice in their respective countries and respected beyond national borders.

With the RS21, RS Sailing has developed a 21-foot keelboat combining sustainability, ease of use and ownership and great sailing characteristics in one boat.

Sustainability: RS Sailing is committed to building the sustainability of our boats and operations. We care about the future of the planet and its oceans for the next generations of sailors. We know not everything we do is perfect but we continually try to move ourselves and our industry forward.

RS Sailing's sustainability focus has actively influenced the design, resulting in a boat built using eco-friendly materials, with multiple environmental attributes. It marks significant progress over previous generations. Following the testing of more sustainable composite materials, the RS21 incorporate eco-friendly materials into the construction. The hull is built using bio-derived resins and the core materials are made from re-cycled PET plastics - drinks bottles to you and me.

"I really like the concept of this project. It really helps to limit the arms race, not just in terms of money and assets, but also in terms of how much time you have to put into your sailing." Hear from owner Cory Sertl after her first day on the water.

What makes the Melges IC37 Class stand out is the strict class rules. The rules are intended to keep costs down, support amateur sailing, promote women in our sport and maintain equality of boats over time.

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As one of the largest single-masted wooden yachts to be built since the 1930's, at 34m long and with a beam of 6.4m, the Spirit 111' was the biggest rollover we have ever undertaken.

Removed from its 'strongback' and brought out of the yard the day before, our specialist team orchestrated a two day operation with the utmost precision to turn her recently completed hull over. She was lifted and rotated in the air using four cranes on a wet February day, but with wind speeds relatively low, we were able to undertake the rollover safely and successfully in half an hour.

The construction of the 111's hull began with the build of laminated wooden ring frames along with a duplex stainless-steel central reinforcement cage. This was placed upside down onto a timber strongback before the centreline structure and beamshelves were fitted. The fore and aft planking was then bonded to the ringframes followed by quadruple-diagonal veneers, which were epoxy-bonded at 45° under vacuum before the hull was finally covered with an epoxy glass sheath.

The MACIF trimaran left Keroman Technologies, the yard which created her in 2015, after a seven-month refit designed to further optimise the performance of this reference Ultime multihull.

Already a solo round the world record holder, the trimaran MACIF has been thoroughly optimised by CDK and Keroman Technologies. The scope of intervention by the yard proved to be both dense and highly technical and have all been possible thanks to the close collaboration between CDK's design office and that of MerConcept.

Project manager Stéphane Digard and his team, who know the architecture of the trimaranMACIF inside out having built her in 2015, launched this extensive and complicated operation, which consisted of transforming part of the floats, and the structure accommodating the foil casings in particular, ready to host a new pair of foils manufactured by CDK Technologies, along with new rudders. At the same time, a new, lighter sandwich boom was manufactured in Port-La- Forêt, which resulted in significant weight saving.

Antoine Gautier explains as head of the MerConcept design office: "We're very pleased with the work CDK has done in terms of the foil construction and modifications to the platform with a view to setting up the appendages. The CDK yard has also worked on the creation of a new boom, which boasts a new geometry, which is longer and is made using an innovative process among the fleet of Ultimes."

The J/121 Jackhammer was sail-testing and training off Newport, RI the past two weeks; newly launched off Bristol, RI by her owner Andrew Hall from the United Kingdom.

"We have been working hard on this project for many months this winter," explains Barry Hayes of UK Sailmakers Ireland. "We are very excited to see Jackhammer in the water and out sailing. Jackhammer's owner (Andrew Hall) has put a lot of work into this project and we are delighted to be involved. Our goal was to provide a turnkey sail package for Andrew. He was able to step aboard, throw off the lines, and go fast straight away- goal achieved."

Jackhammer was built in the US, the sails were designed in Ireland, built in our production facility in Hong Kong, and then fitted and tested in Newport- such is the global reach and expertise of the UK Sailmakers Group.

Jackhammer is powered by Uni-Titanium upwind and an extensive downwind wardrobe consisting of Matrix spinnakers and Top Down furling Code Zero and Flying Jib.

The J/121 is designed with ease of use in mind - as such, all fore sails are set on furlers. The J1 and J2 jibs work on a Selden Furling unit with the J3 Staysail working on an Ubi-Maior furling unit. The J3 is hoisted to a halyard lock and tensioned using a 3:1 purchase tack line- this enables it to be cleared off the bow when not in use but deployed with ease and speed when needed.

In addition to her A2 and A3 downwind Matrix Asymmetric spinnakers, Jackhammer is also equipped with a top down furling Code Zero, direct furling Flying Jib and heavy weather direct furling A5 Asymmetric spinnaker.

This setup is versatile and enables the power output of the sailplan to be managed very effectively, especially offshore. In our sailing video you will see the Flying Jib set on a small bowsprit and used in conjunction with the J3 Staysail. Also shown is her Top Down Furling Code Zero and her J2 and full mainsail configuration.

Fast Forward Composites is about to debut the foiling high-performance Eagle Class 53 Catamaran in September.

The team on the floor consists of seasoned boatbuilders and composite specialists from around the country as well as from boatbuilding schools in our own backyard - I.Y.R.S. in Newport, Rhode Island and the Landing School in Arundel, Maine. Our crew includes builders from campaigns such as Oracle Racing, Luna Rossa, Artemis Racing, and Comanche, as well as mast builders of Alinghi, Luna Rossa, and Young America.

Conceived by professional sailors and designed by an international team of designers, engineers and naval architects, the Eagle Class 53 is the ultimate weekender. EC 53 is equipped with the latest in foiling and wing technology and is capable of navigating at top speeds with unrivaled comfort and luxury.

The vision is simple; to deliver the technology and performance of a competitive racing boat to the recreational sailor. The boat is also hoping to make its way to Antigua in time for RORC’s Caribbean 600 in February 2019.

La Bete has undergone a winter refit in 2016 / 2017 of full servicing and checking, conversion of the primary winches to hydraulic and many more upgrades, this IRC Maxi (LA BETE) offers superb value for money in a competitive package ready for the Maxi Worlds and regattas all over the globe.